James E. Frazier 
Maurice Duruflé 
The Man and His Music

A new, deeply researched biography of the great French organist, who composed some of the best-loved works in the organ repertory — and the masterful Requiem.


Maurice Duruflé: The Man and His Music is a new biography of the great French organist and composer (1902-86), and the most comprehensive in any language. James E. Frazier traces Duruflé’s musical training, his studies with Tournemire and Vierne, and his career as an organist, church musician, composer, recitalist, Conservatoire professor, and orchestral musician. Frazier also examines the career and contributions of Duruflé’s wife, the formidable organist Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier.

Duruflé brought the church’s unique language of plainsong into a compelling liaison with the secular harmonies of the modern French school (as typified by Debussy, Ravel, and Dukas)in works for his own instrument and in his widely loved masterpiece, the
Requiem Op. 9 for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra.

Drawing on the accounts of those who knew Duruflé personally as well as on Frazier’s own detailed research,
Maurice Duruflé offers a broad sketch of this modest and elusive man, widely recognized today for having created some of the greatest works in the organ repertory — and the masterful
Requiem.


James E. Frazier holds advanced degrees in philosophy, organ, theology, and sacred music from St. Alphonsus College, Mt. St. Alphonsus Seminary, Hartt School of Music, the Yale University Divinity School, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He served Episcopal churches in Hartford, Connecticut, and St. Paul, Minnesota, as organist and director of music. For ten years he was director of music for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Duruflé’s Childhood and Early Education

Life at the Cathedral Choir School

Lessons with Charles Tournemire

Lessons with Louis Vierne

The Conservatoire Student

Duruflé’s Distinctions

The Contested Successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde

Duruflé’s Peforming Career

The Orchestral Musician

The Poulenc Organ Concerto

Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire

Marie-Madeleine Chevalier

Overview of Duruflé’s Compositions

Duruflé’s Compositions: Their Genesis and First Performance

Duruflé’s Role in the Plainsong Revival

The Vichy Commissions

The
Requiem

The Musical History of Saint Étienne-du-Mont

The Organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont

Duruflé as Organist and Teacher

Duruflé and Organ Design

The Church in Transition

The North American Tours

The Man Duruflé